A friend sent this to me this week... it made me laugh so much!
So when I followed a link from Debateable Strands of Wisdom, and ended up here, I couldn't resist pinching a few of the best of these funny signs to show you! Honestly, sometimes you wonder what exactly were they thinking..??!
I'm on holidays next week! 
Random photo I saw online and loved
The *MOST* exciting thing though, is that my friends are coming to visit from London! My wonderful friends! Milandi and Lana get here today, Gabriella and Ems get here on Sunday, and also my good good buddy Proctor will be here on Sunday as well HOORAY!! So excited to see my friends :-)
Possibly our firewall will continue to be benevolent and allow me to blog post-conference and let me tell you how wonderful it all was! But just in case it doesn't, I'm going to channel the future for a moment and fill you in now:
Conference was amazing! I was so blessed! It was so fantastic to see all my friends again, we didn't get to catch up as much as I wanted but I was so happy to see them when I could! It was totally exhausting, going all day and all night, but luckily my beautiful car Gina got us all there in one piece every day. The speakers were phenomenal - I think the highlight was Reinhard Bonnke, and also Charlotte Scanlon-Gambill, and... well, they were all the best really! The night rallies were great, so many extra people came, and my friends from Newcastle Manda and Ashley came, and I had such a great time hanging out with them! They are such a great couple!
I bought a really cool t-shirt, and heaps of lovely presents to send back to London when everyone goes back (yay, no postage!). I was so happy that Shelley could come to conference, and I got to see all my buddies from Connect group (even though they were mostly volunteering). I can't wait for next year! Will post photos soon!
;-)
xx
Public apology: Sorry for my blog being so silent of late! It's due to the firewall at work not liking us using blogs. I did speak to our IT manager and request for my blog to be released - for the good of humanity - but for some reason he failed to see my point of view, and that of my adoring fans, and told me that as a blanket policy blogs were banned by the firewall.
(Maybe upon further reflection has has come round to my point of view however, because this morning during my daily 'it's-worth-a-shot' check, I find I can POST!! Halleluiah!!)
But, rest assured, even though I may not be making a mark upon the world wide web, I am always sitting in front of my email, so please keep emailing me! If you don't have my email address, leave me a comment and I'll reply. (Comments get emailed to me automatically, oh the luxuries of blogspot!) But you can also check out the very talented Phoenix's blog, check out my links section for more gold from my buddies.
For some reason the firewall has kindly let me access my blog at work today! I don't know why - don't question the good fortune Amy, just make the most of it!!
So let me take a little moment to introduce you to my beautiful new car who has newly been christened Gina! (Why Gina? Well, call me a dag, but it's one of my favourite names!)
Gina in all her glory!
The first time I drove her, taking a picture on my mobile!
Documenting the first time I ever drove over the Sydney Harbour Bridge!
So now instead of taking me up to an hour to get to work - it now takes me just 15 MINUTES!! Today there was no traffic on the road and it took me a miniscule 12 minutes to get to work - PRAISE GOD!! Set free from the vagaries of public transport! (I don't actually know what vagaries means, it just sounded like a good word to use!)
Why do so many hospitals have Christian sounding names? We deal with a couple of hundred hospitals in Australia, and processing around 60 or 70 orders a day we end up knowing the names of the hospitals very well. I think it's very interesting how many have Saint and religious sounding names!
Calvary Hospital, St Andrews, St George (public and private), Sisters of Mercy, Holy Spirit Hospital, St John of God (I love that one, I mean - why mess about hey?! This St John, he was specifically from God!)
There are so many Mater Misericordiae hospitals that it is annoying.
It makes for some funny comments, that's for sure. Quite often we get faxes marked with random names, where people haven't bothered to listen to us on the phone and just write down whatever they approximate our name is. The best I heard was when we got one such fax and one of the girls picked it up and asked: "Is anyone waiting to hear from the Holy Spirit?"
I had a private chuckle at that. It got even better when one of the other girls got straight up and said - "Yes! I've been waiting to hear from the Holy Spirit!"
I tell you - I've tried praying, fasting, singing, praising - but never thought to try faxing the Holy Spirit! Revolutionary!
Well, let's confess straight up - in an uncharacteristic move by me, I didn't read the whole information sign thing, so I can't totally explain the purpose behind these brilliant bears. I can tell you that they are brilliant though, and I think that's good enough.
There is a Buddy Bear from every nation in the UN - each country picks an artist to decorate the bear, and they tour every UN country. We stumbled across them just near Circular Quay one sunny day. Giant teddy bears and a camera? In my book that's a recipe for fun!
Shelley needed to kiss this bear...
I found the British one and couldn't figure out it's crazy headdress, but loved it anyway...
Emma loved the NZ bear...
Bears as far as the eye could see!
They were all so imaginatively decorated! I loved the Canada one, which had pieces of smashed teacups and saucers on it (with flower patterns still visible!) and was a homage to the mothers of Canada. The Serbia - Montenegro bear, which had bullet holes in it (honest!). The USA bear, which had the big spiky headdress like the Statue of Liberty. The Moldova bear - which had a world map on it's belly and a sign saying "Where's Moldova?" and an arrow pointing to it. (Entertaining and instructive!)
I tell you - if you're going to have an exhibition touring the world - I consider having giant teddy bears as an excllent idea.
I have a great bunch of friends who are spread over the whole world! March has been geat, becuase everyone has been coming over to visit!
Dean flew over for training for his work, and we managed to show him around nearly every tourist spot in Sydney in 10 days. This is us just spotting something fascinating at the Sydney Aquarium.
The girls! Vicki and Kirsty from New Zealand, and Michelle from Brisbane, and a beautiful gathering of my lovely girls from London who are now based in Australia.
Most beautiful of all - Mish came for Colour! We had such a great time! Sadly she is definitely needed in London, so I had to give her back eventually.
Looking forward to all the gang coming out for conference in July - and beautiful Laura moving over for college too!
The nice thing is that I have lots of great countries that I need to go visit now, to catch up with friends everywhere. The sad thing is not being able to see these wonderful people whenever I like - but according to one very wise lady who I know - the anticipation actually strengthens the friendships! (See you in January Marcia!)
"For wherever two or three are gathered (drawn together as My followers) in (into) My name, there I AM in the midst of them."
Matthew 18.20 (AMP)
I have a passion for gathering people together! I always think that people are stronger when they have friends around. There was a period when I was at school where we moved every year, and I spent a lot of time being the 'new kid'. That period where you're new and don't have a support group of friends around you is so hard. I'm still working on conquering my feelings of self-consciousness and timidity from that, to be very honest. (Funny how it's so easy to share with the blank face of the internet!)
"Two are better than one, because they have a good [more satisfying] reward for their labor;
For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!
Again, if two lie down together, then they have warmth; but how can one be warm alone?
And though a man might prevail against him who is alone, two will withstand him.
A threefold cord is not quickly broken."
Ecclesiastes 4.9-12 (AMP)
I love gathering people together. I love choosing people who aren't connected and connecting them. I love to create a fun, relaxing environment for people to be together. I love making people feel wanted and included and important. I love when I see people who I've brought together creating lasting memories and friendships. I love seeing people flourish in the confidence that comes from knowing that they have friends who believe in them.
gath·er
v. gath·ered, gath·er·ing, gath·ers
v. tr.
To cause to come together; convene.
To accumulate (something) gradually; amass.
To harvest or pick.
To gain by a process of gradual increase: gather speed.
To collect into one place; assemble.
To pick up and enfold.
To draw about or bring (one thing) closer to something else.
To attract or be a center of attraction for.
And sometimes you find people whose hearts echo the same beat as yours - people with whom you can totally relax; people who enjoy your company as much as you enjoy theirs; who make you want to become a better person; who know what to say to make you smile, cry, be inspired, or laugh hysterically. It took me a long time to believe that I was worth having friends that wonderful, and that I was actually worth something back to them as well.
"It is not so much our friends' help that helps us as the confident knowledge that they will help us."
Epicurus 341 - 270 BC
I wholeheartedly believe in fighting for friendship.
I know that sometimes there are people who are in your life for a season, and you can enjoy their time with you and then it's okay to let them go. But there are some people who you know you need to keep forever. Friendships that are worth everything, and worth fighting to keep. People who delight in your company and opinions, who invite you to lean on them when you need strength, people who completely love you just as you are.
I love to gather people like that.
"Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;"
William Shakespeare
There's something about friendship that I think reflects the heart of God. The bible says that when God created Adam, he realised that it was not good for man to be alone, so he created Eve. We are created for fellowship, our hearts ache for friendship.
My heart is aching a little at the moment.
My life is a continuing photo essay of randomness and beauty...
The Colour chandelier.... a piece of beauty to aspire to!
The fantastic car park hosts at Colour showing us to our car park (in thongs, no less!) (er, sorry Brits, that's flip flops to you!)
My new boyfriend - look at those rosy cheeks, how could I resist a kiss?
Too brilliant to even need an explanation.... (because you can't get fresher than that!)
On Monday Shelley, Mish and I were at Darling Harbour, and we went to the Chinese Friendship Gardens - which I've been dying to go to for ages. They are beautiful sculptured, maincured gardens, with a stunning waterfall, and a tranquil lake with giant koi, rogue turtles, funny temple-like buildings and beautiful plants everywhere.
And they made me be a Ming princess.
No, really. It was so cool!
There's a part where you can get dressed up in costumes like Chinese royalty would have worn, and you can use your own camera to take pictures of yourself around the gardens. You need to pay to ake the pictures, and sadly, being a few days before pay day I did not have the cashola to get the pictures done. And I explained this to the man as he asked if I'd like to be dressed up. I explained it to him again as he tied a long white skirt around my waist. I tried mumbling it again as he put a beautiful blue kimono on and gave me a fan to hold. I completely shut up as he placed on my head the most ornate and spectacular head dress you have ever seen!
It had blue birds and dragons and huge pearls on sticks! It had tassels that came down past my waist! It had sparkles and diamantes and good gracious it was just the most amazing thing I've ever worn ever. I kind of floated over to the mirror and remained in a daze for some time! Princess! A Ming Princess! Like a beautiful dream come true. I smiled benificently at myself in the mirror.
Til I hear Shelley saying 'No, no! I want to be the BOY!" (much to the dismay of the Chinese dressing man and his assistant who weretrying to dress Shelley in a pink robe!) So they dressed Shelley up as an emperor - complete with large sword and all!
The time came to take off the head dress, but I must confess that I've been mentally wearing it around ever since :-)
I was so floored by this beautiful poem, from my friend Phoenix.
We
You reached for me and brushed my heart and
where you touched you stuck.
Your fingerprints engraved upon the surface of my soul
grew to be a part of me –
in time
your touch was mine.
Your presence
no longer questioned but embraced as though my own.
Phoenix
And then my buddy Mr Torongo added some more genius.
i reached for you and brushed your heart
i only meant to graze it, not stick to it
i reached out in desperation seeking comfort
found a heart i could neither leave nor ignore
and i became a part of you
you became a part of we
and we became.. us
Check out their collective wisdom, and my other talented blogging buddies in my links section.
So here's the next challenge: Write a character profile for yourself if you had lived in medieval times.
Hmm... sounds simple enough. I've read enough sci-fi/fantasy books set in medieval-type times.
Name: Amy Louise (Secret identity: Amarylis, medieval-type superhero, no lycra tights but definately a big sword plus swift and dashing steed)
Physical Characteristics: So Amy is an ordinary flower seller, with a little shop right in the heart of the citadel. She gets around in faded (yet still fashionable) gowns and sensible shoes. Amarylis (on the other hand) has a practical yet ever-so stylish get up, which includes a huge sword, bow and arrow, many dagger belts, and probably also a tiara. (Hey, this is my story!)
Likes: Amy is really into her shop, and her family. Probably pretty passionate about flowers and plants. There might also be a cute baker in a shop across the way who she's interested in!
Amarylis is passionate about righting wrongs, bringing justice to all, and giving bad guys a whopping big hiding with the flat of her sword. She does kill the occasional really bad guy, but only if she's definately sure that he's irredeemable.
Dislikes: Amy dislikes people who don't buy flowers, the florist suppliers who charge too much, and the shop owner next door because she sings really loudly and off-key all day long, and always hangs around that cute baker uneccessarily.
Amarylis dislikes finding somewhere private to do a quick change into the super hero costume, finding somewhere expedient to store the sword and shield, having to chase down smugglers and criminals when it's muddy, and when swordfights leave her with chipped nails.
Actually, that was tougher than I thought!
Check out Phoenix's profile or even Mr Torongo's saga. Any ideas for the next challenge?
I found this funny site during my travel on the web, and it has a 'Beliefomatic' quiz which has a whole heap of questions and says it will find the faith most suited to your answers. I know, it's silly, but I thought I'd give it a go just to see what it came up with. Check out the list and percentages below:
1. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (100%)
2. Jehovah's Witness (92%)
3. Mainline to Liberal Christian/Protestants (69%)
4. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (69%)
5. Bahá'í Faith (65%)
6. Orthodox Judaism (64%)
7. Sikhism (59%)
8. Orthodox Quaker (58%)
9. Islam (52%)
10. Liberal Quakers (51%)
11. Seventh Day Adventist (50%)
12. Reform Judaism (49%)
13. Eastern Orthodox (44%)
14. Roman Catholic (44%)
15. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (41%)
16. Unitarian Universalism (41%)
17. Jainism (38%)
18. Hinduism (36%)
19. Neo-Pagan (35%)
20. Mahayana Buddhism (30%)
21. Theravada Buddhism (29%)
22. New Age (27%)
23. Secular Humanism (27%)
24. New Thought (25%)
25. Taoism (21%)
26. Scientology (19%)
27. Nontheist (17%)
I'm glad it put Scientologists second last... those guys are nuts! (In my humble opinion, anyway) Not sure which one of these on the list that I would actually identify myself with anyway? How funny!
I stayed at my mums place this weekend (yes, there is broadband here, which is why the blog has gotten so much love!) and on Saturday night mum made the most delightful dinner - roast pork with fresh apple sauce and roasted vegetables. My mum is the best cook ever!
She also got us all matching shirts to wear. This is an essential part of any girls wardrobe - shirts that match her good friends. So obviously being family, it was high time we had matching outfits! (Don't fault the logic, it's there if you if you look for it.)
The girls
Our best NKOTB/Spice Girls pose...
Then we somehow got into this bizaare competition about who could do the weirdest things with their body. Mum and I can wiggle our pinky toe (you try it!), I can raise one eyebrow at a time, Katy can't roll her tongue, and Jessie... well, Jessie has a funny trick she does with her lips which is quite her own little thing. She tried her hardest to teach Katy, Katy I wouldn't actually be that upset that you can't do it! Luckily, as usual, I was there with my digital camera to record the attempts... what would these girls do without me?
Those crazy sisters of mine!
So I've moved in to the Cottage! (Did I officially say that before?) Even though the staff who work in the office of the church who own the cottage seem to be totally unequppied to understand my arrival, as my mail keeps getting 'Not At This Address' written on it in very flowery handwriting and being sent back.
Shelley and I moved in to the big room at the front of the house. It was a big move as we both have a lot of junka nd not enough storage space. We had mess EVERYWHERE. And so how did we spend our time? Well, it's a theory known as 'displacement cleaning' where you clean every single other space you can, and totally avoid the immediate mess you need to actually clean. Suffice it to say that we a) discovered the the front door step is real marble b) found that the fireplace is full of real coal and c) now have sparkling clean windows!
The Cottage Crew is cool, and growing cooler by the minute. Lovely Kiwi Lynne has now moved back to Kiwiland. We took her out for her birthday the week before she left. We went for Indian, which I don't usually like, but it was actually great. We had a great time! 
Aimee, Lynne, Amylou, Shelley
Lynne, Aaron, Aimee, Shelley
Lynne made a (rather offhand) announcement that she was pregnant! How exciting! So we had a bit of a celebration!
Cheers!
So when do you draw a line and when do you not? I'm having issues with a particular person, and they're old issues, but they're not going away, as much as I try to grow past it I just haven't so far. I know that being a Christian is about reflecting Gods love on the world. I've been given a big second chance, having my sins forgiven by God and starting again as a new creation. Not everyone has that chance (although it's there for anyone who wants it!) and not everyone makes the decision to remake themselves either.
So here's an interesting thing now - in church our big focus is on becoming bigger people. Sanding off your rough edges and becoming smoother. Being a better leader, serving your own leaders better, becoming easier to be around, becoming someone people want to be around, learning about how to focus on other people and not on yourself, learning about how much God loves us - and catching that love and loving other people so much too. But (and here's my point) people who aren't in church don't have this regular and continuedfocus on self-improvement. Sure there are self-help books you can read - but you don't have any purpose behind change other than wanting to. And the problem as I see it, is that a lot of times you don't actually know what it is about yourself that needs changing. Also you don't feel the need to change it, because it can easily be perceived as "Well, if people have a problem with me they can get over it!"
What I love about church, and my church in particular (I've never been to any other church, so maybe they are all like this, I don't know) is that there is a focus on commitment to growing each other and growing closer to God. Think about when you would usually change your behaviour - it's usually to please or impress a loved one. Well I love God, with all all all my heart, and I want to do whatever makes Him happy. And I have His word in the bible which shows behaviours that I can pattern, lessons I can follow, people I can learn from. I know the direction I need to take.
I posted once before about praying about my faults, and asking God to help me improve them. I still have that list and I still work on it. I'm lucky to have friends who call me out on my behaviour when it's getting bad, or weird. (You know who you are!) Friends who I respect and love, and whose opinion means a great deal to me. I also know that it's my responsibility to talk to them about things I'm having trouble dealing with, or behaviours of mine that I need accountability on, and get them to help me work through it.
So where is that accountability for non-Christians? Where is that drive to make themselves better people, and more accommodating to others? Don't get mad - I know that was a very generalised statement and I don't stand by it. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm having these same old issues with this person, and I've told them MANY times how they could perhaps, maybe, possibly try acting a little differently towards me, but they don't. And it's frustrating me! If you know that your behaviour is annoying someone, or hurting someone - don't you make an effort to change it? Why wouldn't you change your behaviour?
I can certainly trying to take a lesson away from this though. Am I being hypocritical? Do I change my behaviour when I see it hurting other people? Or do I think to myself "That's just something they need to get over!"? Yep, I'm guilty of that! And I also know that the point of loving someone isn't that they love you back - because love needs to be selfless and string-free. Love isn't a bargain, ie: you be nice to me and then I'll love you. Love is just total acceptance of a person , and saying "I'm going to love you no matter what."
(But if someone isn't being nice to you, you don't have to keep hanging around that person.) (In fact, maybe it's easier to love some people when you don't see them very often!)
Every Saturday night after church we have a 'Frontline' event. Frontline is the age group between 25 and 35, into which I fit quite neatly. It's all fun thngs - like fish and chips at Bondi, Luna Park, beach volleyball, moonlight cinema etc. Great times, great people - I really enjoy it!
Two weeks ago the event was houseparties. My connect group went to a prty at a guy called George's apartment - a beautiful, beautiful place. I don't remember the name of the suburb. It was a lovely apartment, there was a whole heap of great people there, nice space, nice food - I was having a really great time.
Most of the wonderful people from my connect group were there too, which was great. Someone pulled out a guitar and some people with the most brilliant brilliant voices started singing, and people were doing all 4-part harmonies and I just LOVED it! They were singing some church songs, and some daggy old 80's songs (one guy kept breaking out into "I will always love you" which was funny!
And then, all of a sudden, hilariously, it turned into a Boys Party. Don't think I'm being sexist, just listen to what happened and you judge for yourself. So the music suddenly was turned off, and two projectors were pulled out and aimed at the wall, 12 people were grabbed and sat down in the living room - and all of a sudden there is a 12-way game of Halo 2 (a violent shooting computer game) going on! This was George's idea of how girls and guys could mix - by all playing computer games together! It was hysterical!
I thought it was a bit strange to start with, but it ended up being a lot of fun. The bottom left screen is me. I didn't end up going very well - possibly because I was taking pictures at the same time as playing! It never would have occurred to me that that would be a fun thing to do at a party. Boys are funny people aren't they?
This it totally turning out to be my favourite job I've ever had! (Apart from working at the Olympics, which obviously won't ever be beaten!) On my first day they had a sign up saying 'Welcome' with my name on it! How great is that!
So my company is a medical supply company. Hospitals and sugeries send us orders by fax, phone and email, I enter them, and the boy sin the warehouse pick them, pack them, and send them out. There are a lot of different products, and my product training is taking a while longer than I thought it would have - which has been hard, but the things that I have learned about are fascinating!
Adapting back to full time work was difficult after so many weeks of long lazy sleep-in mornings. Most it has been two cups of tea to get me going in the morning!
One of our major products are catheters. Check out this hilarious Christmas decoration we had:
Yep, it's a cherub wearing a catheter and legbag... classy...
The office is great - we have a huge big cafeteria downstairs that we have parties in, birthday celebrations once a month etc.
Did I mention the pool outside? Sometimes when it's really hot I go and eat my lunch with my feet in the pool - oh you can't tell me you're not jealous of that! It's unbelievable!
It's been really, really, really busy lately, owing to one girl being on holidays and one girl quitting unexpectedly - which has been pretty tough. Luckily it looks like an end to the madness is in sight now, and things will get back to normal. As long as I can keep resisting all the FOOD that is constantly delivered to our doorstep! It's so nice to have a great job, great people, great money (woohoo!) and a pool, a POOL!
I know it's boring to look at pictures of someone elses holiday, or kids, or pets. In fact - I know that usually you find it boring just looking at any pictures of peope you don't know or that you aren't in! (Or am I showing my narcissistic side now?!) But every now and then you have to sit through looking at someone's pictures and pretend to be interested, and here's a great opportunity for you to do that now, because here are some pictures of my beloved cat Button!
Button was a revenge baby, in a way. I'd wanted a cute little kitten for ages, and kept asking mum and dad, who kept saying no. Then one day mum said yes! (she told me just recently she said yes to annoy my dad, who was away at the time, and came home to find a new addition to the family!) A friend at work had a pedigree long hair cat who'd just had kittens with a pedigree short hair cat. (What kind of cat? I don't remember!) He was giving away the kittens, and told me he had a cute little black and white one called Button that I could have.
She's the sweetest little thing. Her love language is definately 'touch' as she loves being cuddled and patted, which not all cats do. She also talks a lot, which I think is cute (unless it's early in the morning and she wants to be fed before I've gotten up - that's just rude). She loves sitting in boxes, and always wants to go underneath blankets or tables or into bags. 
She also does this funny thing where if there's a big wide space (like a bed) with only one thing on it (like a plastic bag) - she'll go and sit on that one thing and sleep, or cuddle up to that one thing and sleep.
Yep - that's my baby! I missed her a lot when I was in London, and she actually sent me a few emails, which was pretty impressive! It's always nice to have someone around who thinks you're terrific and just wants to hug you.
